The 2019 BP Portrait Award will still take place in December, but that will be the last time NGS will host that show (at least, as sponsored by BP). The holdouts, that is, those arts organizations still sponsored by BP, now include the National Portrait Gallery, where this move will increase pressure. – The Guardian (UK)
Author: ArtsJournal2
Like It Or Not (Probably You Do Not), Kim Kardashian Represents America
She’s at the intersection of race, gender, and social media. “Kim’s particular fame derives from a cherished place in the American racial imagination that, combined with wealth, prevents contact with the deathly effects (and melancholic affects) of brownness in this country while reaping the exoticism of not-quite whiteness.” – Slate
The Hate It Or Love It Hitler Joke Of Taika Waititi’s ‘Jojo Rabbit’
Here’s the deal: It’s a movie that laughs at the Nazis and laughs at Hitler. “The controversy — or, at least, the orchestrated illusion of it — is built into the film’s faux outrageous aesthetic, its whole thumb-in-the-eye-of-the-monster, satire-is-resistance! brand. It’s a movie that actually counts on a divided reaction, because the key question Jojo Rabbit is asking its audience isn’t, ‘Are you willing to laugh at hate?’ The key question is, ‘Are you cool enough to get it?'” – Variety
Watching Americans Watch Parades
Imagine photographing the people lining the streets for 28 different parades in the U.S. – in 2016. “The very existence of each group portrait produces an illusion of unity, as if the people in each frame, at least for that instant, cohere. Maybe an act as basic as standing alongside other people still counts for something.” – The Atlantic
The Director Of The Planned CGI James Dean Movie Says It’s Not A Gimmick
The director says, “At the end of the day, what we really want people to know is the movie is about love and friendship, the veterans that served in the Vietnam War and especially the dogs that were with them. … We never want to lose that emphasis and this [social media reaction] becomes a distraction of what the story is about.” Unh hunh. Who could have predicted this backlash? (Hint: Almost anyone.) – The Hollywood Reporter
The Chattanooga Symphony And Its Concertmaster Are At Serious Odds
Holly Mulcahy hasn’t performed with the orchestra since April because of a contract dispute – a dispute so intense that one board member has resigned over it. That board member, film composer George S. Clinton, said that the entire dispute had been “badly mishandled and allowed to deteriorate to the point that now the symphony has lost what I and many others consider to be one of its finest assets.” – Chattanooga Times Free Press
Sesame Street Had A 50th Birthday Party, But Who Was The Audience?
Was it kids? Maybe, if they truly love music. It was shiny, with a ton – a ton – of celebrity appearances, as befits, well, a show that’s on HBO. That’s a problem: “The celebration is also slightly dulled by the fact that the once widely accessible show is getting harder to access.” – Los Angeles Times
A New Sculpture For Brooklyn’s New ‘Golden Age’
But is it worthy? The sculpture started out with the name “We’re No. #1” and moved to, uh, “Unity,” a little less focused on the longstanding animosity between Brooklyn and Manhattan. “Perhaps Mr. Thomas is saluting the new Brooklyn — the one of rising property values and more anodyne art.” Ouch. – The New York Times
The Paris Review’s New Poetry Editor Has Hope For The Future Of Literature
Vijay Seshadri, who became poetry editor for the legendary literary magazine in August, says that going through the Review‘s slush pile is invigorating. “You kind of feel that something new is happening, among all of this chaos and turmoil.” – NPR
Why Does The Minnesota Orchestra Do Overseas Tours?
Apparently, it’s not the money. There’s diplomacy, there’s prestige, and there’s the desire of areas of the world – China definitely included – to be seen as supporting Western classical music. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)